Viart Shop

Gift Voucher may be a good way out if you do not know how to thank a customer for his/her purchase. It gives free rein to the customer as well as lets you estimate the total amount of money that can be spent.

Note: Gift Voucher can be not only an addition to a product purchased, but a separate product as well. In that case your customers will be able to present them to their relatives and friends.

In order to create a gift voucher you have to go to Administration > Products > Coupons and click the 'Add Gift Voucher' link. Note that you will be able to edit its settings from the same page later.

The first setting you should set up is whether the coupon is active or not. Then you have to fill out the following fields:

• Coupon Code is generated automatically; a customer will have to provide it when checking out.
• Coupon Title contains the name of the coupon; you may use it as its short definition.
• Discount Amount specifies the sum of money that can be spent; a customer will be able to use it until there is nothing left.

After that you need to specify some coupon restrictions, namely:

• Expiration Date defines the latest date the coupon can be applied; if left blank, no restrictions will be applied .
• Number of times coupon has been used is generated by the system and shows how many times the coupon has been applied.

Note: You can reactivate the coupon by setting the value to zero manually.

Generating gift vouchers automatically

Since gift voucher is such a handy thing, ViArt Shop lets you generate them automatically by creating a special type of products. By default there is a 'Gift Voucher' product type in the system; however, you can add such an option to any product type you need. So, if you want a gift voucher to be issued every time a product is purchased, you just have to assign this product to a type with such a feature.

Note: For more information about product types see section 5.3.2.

Actually, the process of generating gift vouchers automatically is the same as manually. When an order including a special 'gift' product is placed, a new gift voucher is issued; you will be able to manage its settings when reviewing order details (see section 6.1). Actually, all you have to do is to activate the voucher. This can be done through the order details page as well as though the 'Coupons' section (Administration >Products > Coupons).

The fields you will see are similar to the ones described above. The only exception is the 'Order Item' field. By default it is defined by the name of the product purchased, but you can select any form the list (the list itself is composed of the names of other 'gift' products if there are any in the order).

Note: All fields in the 'Coupon Info' section are filled out by default; however, you are still able to edit them.

After you click the 'Update' button, you will be prompted to send an e-mail informing the customer about the gift voucher. Note that you can also add another one by clicking the 'Add Gift Voucher' link.

Make sure all required fields are filled out correctly and send the message.